


In Valor There is Hope

by sunfair



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden Love, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:34:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunfair/pseuds/sunfair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the prompt: "Any sort of medieval au with Liam as a knight and Zayn as a prince."</p><p>Edit 12/17/2015: This work has been translated into Russian with my permission, and is available here: https://ficbook.net/readfic/3776171</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Valor There is Hope

Zayn wakes up to torrential rain and a pervasive chill in his room, along with the sounds of his manservants drawing him a warm bath, murmuring quietly to themselves in the corner of his chambers. It's a big day, the biggest day of his life thus far, and Zayn is filled with unspeakable dread. All preparations have been meticulously made, and the burden of expectation weighs heavy on his heart, an actual ache in his chest that has nothing to do with the weather. He spent the entirety of the previous evening in solitary reflection, refusing all visitors, even his mother.

He bathes and allows himself to be dressed and says nothing, unresponsive to his minders' queries about his desires for breakfast. In the end his mother arrives with some fruit and bread for him and sends his minders away, but he gazes blankly at the food and refuses to meet her eyes. She cups his face in her hands and kisses his forehead and tells him how proud she is of him and how important and beloved he is, how wide his kingdom will become with his union. Zayn clenches his teeth, her words nearly unbearable. She knows he's in misery and she's doing her best to lift his spirits but her efforts are misplaced and futile.

"How may I ease this duty for you, my love?" his mother asks, stroking his face again, her eyes sad and tearful. Zayn is proud of the fact that he's kept from crying even once thus far.

"You cannot."

She takes his hand, holding it between both of her own. "Make any request of me within my means and I shall see to it presently."

Zayn pauses, finally meeting his mother's earnest gaze, a flicker of hope flaring in the dark cold of his chest.

"Perhaps there is one thing you could do, mother."

*

The castle is absolutely bustling with activity, dozens of workers scurrying around to ensure the completion of every last minute detail, each of them tasked with nothing less than perfection. Zayn almost doesn't hear the knock when it comes, a soft rap on the door to his chambers, but his heart soars to bursting when Liam enters, draped in a heavy, hooded cloak as he slips in, his steps light despite the thickness of his boots.

"Secure the lock," Zayn whispers needlessly, because Liam is already doing so.

Liam turns to him again and pushes his hood back, and Zayn's already halfway across the room to him, but he stops abruptly, his first smile of the day dissolving like an apparition. Liam's hair is freshly shorn, clipped close, only the slightest stubble remaining. His brow is drawn tight in distress, and when he takes a breath he trembles with it.

"I shall go mad before this day is through, I swear it," Liam says, his voice choked and desperate.

Zayn closes the distance between them in swift strides, taking Liam into his arms, embracing him with a fierce possessiveness the likes of which he feels for nothing else in his world. Liam returns the embrace with equal fervor, fisting the back of Zayn's immaculately tailored shirt, and then his lips are at Zayn's neck, pressing insistent kisses between stifled whimpers. Zayn's throat closes up and he exhales raggedly, quickly growing stiff in his trousers, tilting his chin as Liam drags his mouth against it.

"We've only an hour," Zayn says miserably. "Two at most." He runs his hand along the back of Liam's neck and head, against the rough bristle of his hair.

Liam draws back, just enough to tip his forehead to Zayn's, their noses bumping as they share the air between them. Liam's cloak still carries tiny droplets of rain from outside, scattered across his strong shoulders. He tilts his head and then his lips meet Zayn's, plush and trembling with insistence and the effort of restraint.

"You've bathed already," Liam whispers, fond but wistful, the tips of his fingers tracing Zayn's features, the curve of his brow and the slope of his cheek, his gaze following his touch. "You smell of the meadow in springtime. I had hoped to assist in that task." Liam smiles sadly and Zayn's chest seizes up again, the pad of Liam's thumb pressing at the swell of Zayn's lower lip.

"Liam," Zayn murmurs, pursing his lips against Liam's thumb and closing his eyes. When he opens them he takes Liam's wrist, closing his hand around it, and moves backward, leading Liam into his chambers, toward the bed. Liam follows without hesitation, but his face is still drawn with worry even as his gaze wanders, dropping to take in the full length of Zayn's body as they move steadily inward.

"You've bathed _and_ dressed already," Liam says, concerned.

"I care not," Zayn replies, dropping Liam's wrist as they arrive at the edge of his bed. Zayn moves his fingers to the fastenings on his trousers, fumbling with an attempt to undo them.

"Please--" Liam says suddenly, stepping in close, replacing Zayn's hands with his own. "Allow me."

Zayn concedes and Liam undresses him, trousers and shirt and undergarments. Zayn urges him to hurry even as Liam takes his time, spending long, precious minutes kissing and touching Zayn's uncovered skin as it blooms with goosebumps in the chilled air. Zayn finds the clasp of Liam's cloak and undoes it, and Liam undresses himself much more quickly, leaving his garments and boots in a haphazard pile on the floor. Zayn's bed was freshened and tidied meticulously as soon as he'd risen from it, but he doesn't hesitate a second to bring Liam into it now, pulling him close, tugging the layers of sweet-smelling bedclothes over them as they tangle themselves together.

Liam moves Zayn onto his back, parting his thighs, pulling his legs up and around Liam's hips. Their kissing shifts predictably, moving from the soft sweetness of adoration to the rough insistence of need. Liam moves against him, his thick muscles flexing under Zayn's roaming hands, his cock sliding along Zayn's own, warm and weighted. They could proceed just like this, long familiar with how precisely to move together, or Zayn could ask for Liam's hands, or his mouth, and anything he asked Liam would provide for him happily. His capacity for patience and willingness to please him rivals the magnitude with which Zayn adores and needs him.

Zayn tucks his hand beneath the plush pile of pillows, removing the small pot of slick ointment hidden there, placing it securely in Liam's hand.

"Are you certain?" Liam asks in a whisper, wide-eyed and breathless, his mouth flushed and plump from the abundance of kissing.

"Undoubtedly so," Zayn says with absolute conviction. They've scarcely had the opportunity for such activity in the past, a handful of times at most. Liam's eyes meet his, and Zayn holds his gaze. "I wish to have you inside of me," Zayn says, and Liam shudders with a moan, his hips rocking once. "I wish to feel you there for days," Zayn continues, flicking the edge of his thumbnail at Liam's nipple, the corners of his mouth turning up as Liam gazes at him in pleasured awe. "I wish to know irrevocably that--"

"Alright, yes, yes--" Liam interjects, shifting quickly to open the jar and slick up his fingers, a bit messy in his haste.

"-- that I am yours completely," Zayn finishes.

Liam is careful with his hands as always, tender and unhurried despite Zayn's near constant urging, hushing him with long kisses. Zayn's painfully aware of their time constraint, writhing impatiently, finally snatching up the tiny pot himself, using his own hands to spread the ointment over Liam's length and helping to guide him inside.

There's a flare of pain at first like always, like Zayn could split right in half, lingering with the promise of pleasure behind it. Zayn directs Liam to keep going, not to stop, until they fall into an even rhythm, the sharp flinches of pain turning over to repeated pangs of deep desire.

"Will this be our end?" Liam says suddenly, breathless and frightened, still moving steadily inside Zayn, drawing out desperate whimpers from both of them with every pull and push of his hips.

"Never," Zayn manages, curling his hand over Liam's, urging it around Zayn's cock in counterpoint with the delicious drag of Liam inside him. "No-- never," he says again, tensing, his eyes fluttering shut as he comes over their joined fingers, pulsing warm and wet between their bodies.

Liam gasps in surprise at Zayn's climax as he always does, pumping his hips a few more times, colliding sharp and hard with Zayn's until he stills with a groan, spilling deep inside him in echoing bursts. 

"My love," Liam murmurs reverently, his lips at Zayn's throat, kissing the hollow dip of it and each of his clavicles in turn as Zayn shifts, pressing up against Liam's body, holding him tightly in an attempt to keep him close. Liam's voice drops, hushed and low as he kisses up to Zayn's ear, breathing hard. "I remain yours, faithfully for all my days, I swear it so."

Zayn sighs, his eyes stinging as they fill with tears now, his arms clenching around Liam's body until he shakes with it. "And I yours, Liam." He takes Liam's face in his hands, lifting it to kiss him, long and deeply. "No matter the course of the next few hours," Zayn says, his words sharp and hushed with sincerity. "No matter how the days and weeks and years progress, it is you who has my heart forever."

Liam's lip trembles, tears spilling freely down his cheeks, falling in warm drops onto Zayn's own. Zayn lifts his head to kiss them away, tongue flicking at the salt on his lips.

"Stay brave for me, my love," Zayn says. "In time you shall rule my army as you do my heart."


End file.
